Sunday, August 18, 2013

Story Telling

There was a friend I had in the barracks that a number of guys grew cold towards.
He was a guy who when everyone talked about their car in high school, he talked about his hot rod.
The same was true for stereo or motorcycles or whatever.
I always found him genuine and engaging and not a braggart.
But the other guys found it tiring.
I thought, even if he's making it up, he's entertaining.

One day, he mentioned his prior nursing career in passing.
I asked why he wasn't an officer, a nurse.
He said he'd never nurse again.
I asked why, and he told me that he was doing ER duty and an auto accident victim came in.
She was so torn up, there was no facial recognition.
As he was working on her he noticed his wife's wedding ring on her finger.

I later found out (not from him) that his dad was a wealthy contractor in Atlanta.
His uncle was Grumpy Jenkins (a famous race car builder).
That explains the car.

Like I said, he was never a braggart, he was just joining in the conversation.

There's always going to be someone who has more than us.
My roommate (and friend) in college was Charles J. Rothschild the Third.
What a great guy.
And he was putting himself through school, not depending on his dad's money.

I was reminded of all this reading Brigid today and the post referred to one upmanship in story telling.

Brigid, thank you.Jack, I think it was a Nova.Jess, let me validate you. You are a fine writer. On a par with Brigid. If you're as good at construction/destruction as you write, you're doing fine. Except for the oppressive heat.

The wedding ring line nearly took my breath away. How AWFUL. How VERY AWFUL. Oh, Ed.......that poor man.Yes, someone's always going to have a better story than ours. And leave it to you to add "Thank God". You humble me, Ed. You're a very good man.Z